COLUMBIA --- South Carolina auditors said Tuesday two agencies in charge of the state's planes have failed to keep proper records of flights by officials, bolstering an Associated Press investigation conducted into Gov. Mark Sanford's travel.
The inquiry and other investigations come in the wake of Sanford's disappearance in June. That included Sanford's use of state planes for personal and political travel in addition to flying on commercial aircraft in better-than-economy-class seats despite low-cost travel requirements.
The state Aeronautics Division, State Law Enforcement Division and Department of Natural Resources all operate planes and are required to maintain logs of flights and manifests detailing who was flying and for what official purpose.
"Aeronautics was the only agency with flight logs and manifest forms (with sworn statements regarding the nature of trips and how the trips were official business), as required by law," the report said.
The auditors reviewed two years of flight data for the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years.
The Department of Natural Resources "was not aware of the proviso relating to state-owned aircraft," auditors reported. The agency didn't develop its manifest form until July 1. Meanwhile, SLED used an outdated form that it was modifying to include required information. All the agencies involved reported to Sanford or were accountable to him.
Auditors found overall "there were no significant problems with the use of the aircraft. We did question two partisan flights taken by the Governor on the Aeronautics' airplane and some law enforcement flights flown by DNR aircraft."
The auditors took a closer look at several flights involving Sanford, noting flights to a South Carolina House Republican Caucus event in August 2007 and to the Republican presidential primary debate in January 2008.
"The Governor's Office stated that the governor attended both functions in his official capacity as governor," the report said.
The report also said lawmakers need to address problems with state law involving commercial flights with first- or business-class tickets because of a discrepancy between state law and regulations.
If legislators determine "that top state officials should be allowed to fly business class for international flights, it may wish to amend the proviso to identify those state officials and types of flights for which individuals are allowed to travel with business class accommodations," the report said.
Sanford said he would welcome the change.
The report questioned practices at the Aeronautics Division that allow the governor, lieutenant governor and legislators to fly at no cost to their offices while the state's seven other statewide officers and other state officials pay $1,100 an hour. It recommended changing law to require charges for everyone.
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